New Hampshire, from the Industries of States series (N117) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Honest Long Cut Tobacco
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 4 3/16 × 2 1/2 in. (10.6 × 6.3 cm)
Classification
Prints|Ephemera
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Jefferson R. Burdick Collection, Gift of Jefferson R. Burdick
Accession Number
63.350.206.117.1
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of 19th-century American advertising with *New Hampshire* (N117), a petite commercial color lithograph produced in 1889 by W. Duke, Sons & Co This charming card from the *Industries of States* series promoted "Honest Long Cut Tobacco" by personifying the Granite State through allegorical imagery, including female nudes and shields—likely evoking classical motifs of strength, industry, and allure. Measuring just 4 3/16 × 2 1/2 inches, it was designed as ephemeral trade ephemera, handed out to entice smokers at stores or events. Chromolithography, the medium here, re...
About the Artist
W. Duke, Sons & Co. · 1870–1920
**W. Duke, Sons & Co.: Pioneers of Chromolithographic Trade Card Art** W. Duke, Sons & Co., an American tobacco manufacturer, emerged from the entrepreneurial vision of Washington Duke (1820–1905) and his sons in Durham, North Carolina. After the Civil War, Washington abandoned farming in 1874 to join his eldest son, Brodie L. Duke, in the burgeoning tobacco trade, establishing a factory that for...